Was a certain Mr. BIG! Ya, you heard me right. Last night I was breathing in the same oxygen as Chris Noth!!! How the heck did you get to do that you ask? Well, I was invited to celebrate my dear friends birthday at the Grand Finale of the SF Symphony, and Chris Noth was the narrator for one of the pieces.

THE Mr. Big

First off, let me tell you a little about the night. Julie, the bday gal, had no idea that Kate and I were going to be there to celebrate with her. Julie’s sweet bf Eric secretly invited the both of us, and we were waiting in our seats when Julie and Eric arrived. The look on her face was utterly priceless! You know when you make eye contact with someone you know, but it’s so far fetched and out of context that it doesn’t register right away that you know them? Ya, that’s totally what happened! She looked right at us, and continued to mosey down to her seat, and then bingo, she totally freaked out(in a good way!). It was so much fun to be a part of surprising her and Eric did such a wonderful job on planning and making the whole night so great! (Jean Pierre are you reading and taking notes right now???)

Back to the symphony… Other than watching and listening to the musical department from my High School of the Arts, I have never truly been to the symphony. So it was such a treat to experience this for the first time. I have to talk about how amazing the conductor was. Her name is Alondra de la Parra, and she was spectacular! She really got into each piece, and as Julie had mentioned, it was like she was a ballerina one moment in the softer sections, and then a Flamenco dancer in the more intense and fast paced pieces.

My favorite pieces that were played during the night were:

Three Latin-American Sketches(Estribillo, Paisaje Mexicano, Danza de Jalisco) by Copland

Lincoln Portrait(narrated by Chris Noth) by Copland

Strike Up the Band by Gershwin

Go Bears!

But the ultimate highlight of the evening was when the symphony started to play Seventy-Six Trombones and the Cal Berkley marching band came down the aisles banging their drums and blowing their horns! It was so much fun, you just couldn’t help but laugh, and clap along!

And then….there were balloons!!! Julie claimed they were just for her, I went along with it. 😉 I was assured by my friends that this was not a typical symphony experience. So I guess I can’t expect marching bands and balloons and Chris Noth the next time I return to the symphony…dangit!

Afterwards we headed to Absinthe for some dessert and drinks. We opted for just four….we were being modest. Haha. By far the best was this pine nut and fig cake/ice cream/granola concoction. It was pretty killer. As was their famous pot de creme.

Pine Nut Goodness!

All in all, it was a fantastic evening filled with music, laughter, good eats, and great conversations. Thank you Eric for making all of this happen. And Happy Birthday Miss Julie! xo